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Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 11)
I've read all the Anita Blake books up through this one. I've liked them, but even for me, it has been too much descriptive sex (kind of like reading porn) and not enough plot line. I've actually stopped reading the series at this point. I will most likely go back to the series later, but for now I've found better stories to read. If you are a fan of the series, I would say read and decide for yourself.
Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 11)
When i read the first Anita Blake book, i was awwed. Mystery, action, humor, REAL HORROR in such a small package, and i haven't stopped since. Now i get to Cerulean sins. quickly:The ardeur is just lame, the harlequin novel men with long hair, and the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG DRAWN OUT sex or sexual-ish ness is just boring to no end. Its long, drawn out and dry like some "my first threesom" documentary done by married woman who long to be with another man than the one their married to soooo badly. Like someone stuck in the country who longs for a visit to the "BIG CITY" so they make this drawn out housewife fantasy with vampires instead of wind machines and big boats and swelling music. Mrs. Hamilton, thank you for you work, but i have NEVER skimmed through pages of your books until this one. I've found myself fighting off mean words as i mumbled to myself reading this. Oh, and Richard??? Please kill him, how you've made him this annoying is....well? He's not an Ulfric, he's become and ul-BITCH!! Him with his hissy fits, and anita humping the puppy and plants??? OH COME ON!!! What happened to the Horror, Mystery, humor and action? It feels like three different books. A book for horny 40something housewives needing something to keep them from shagging the bag boy at the local pigly wigly. ***sigh***. Now having let that out.....thank you for your work Mrs. Hamilton, there are moments in here, but they are...well, just that: moments. smalllllll, lil'moments. *sigh* Reading this led me closely down the path of the DARK SIDE. cheers.
Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 11)
As with all the books in this series, the character of Anita Blake is a fascinating character and what really makes the series work. As always in the more recent books in the series, the character of Anita moves farther and farther away from the character who we met in the initial few books, at least on the surface; that evolution is what makes some people love this story and the few that have come before it, and others hate them. But she's still Anita, and still enjoyable to spend some time with, even if some of her attitudes have changed markedly from what they once were. (Of course, it doesn't hurt that her attitudes are becoming MORE, rather than less, like mine; I'm sure that the objections are mostly coming from people for whom that isn't true.) In this book, we even see that she's learning to play vampire politics when necessary; she still hates it, but she's demonstrating a remarkable talent for it when necessary.The one thing that keeps me from giving this book five stars is that it is noticeably less well proofread than the previous entries in the series; there were more typos and sloppy mistakes in the first third of this book than there were in the first ten books of the series put together. (After the 1/3 point, the problem mostly cleared up.) Things like using "breath" instead of "breathe", "bare" instead of "bear", "calvary" insteadof "cavalry". There were several misplaced commas, too, one notable example of which being "Until somewhere in the middle of it all, I begged, Asher to enter me, take me." There were other examples almost as bad that I didn't note down. I know Laurell is capable of better than this, because the first ten books of the series were ALMOST flawless in this regard; I have to assume that her publisher/editor fell down on the job. But it still detracts a bit from the book; I can't give 5 stars to anything with this many sloppy mistakes.
Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 11)
Laurell K. Hamilton's books used to have amazing plots, interesting mystery and believable character development. Recently though, in this and her new fey series, her books consist of lots of meaningless sex and little else. This book had two interesting things: a new assasin and the Mother of All Darkness. Unfortunately, it seems that these pieces were mistakenly not edited out of the final copy. I say that because it seems that Hamilton originally planned to make them the center of the story, but she moved to other things and forgot to take out the pieces that no longer fit. I was very disappointed because we had only a few references to each, and then they disappear and there is no real closure (or pretend closure). The real storyline was nonexistent and seemed more like a subplot than anything else. I was so mad I bought this book in hardback. I knew that with the fey series I'd just get an erotic fantasy porn book, and I'm dissapointed Hamilton has gone that way with my beloved Anita Blake as well.
Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 11)
'Cerulean Sins' has delivered everything I was hoping for and more. I couldn't put it down. I love this book, I love the character development. If you haven't read the earlier books in this series, go back and do so. I continue to be amazed, each character has grown and changed so much. Each one impacting Anita's life, just like each person in my life impacts my decisions.The titilating history between Jean Claude and Asher gets kicked up a notch in this book. Giving this reader, exactly what she'd been hoping to see. Anita exquisitely rides the fence of the moral dilemma she faces. While, Ms. Hamilton knows how to keep the sexual tension at a fever pitch and uses it to it's best advantage.I for one, can't wait for the next book. The author hints that Richard and Anita are headed for something explosive, no matter which way the relationship turns. I'm sitting on the edge of my seat.Thank you Ms. Hamilton.
Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 11)
This version of the series of Anita Blake was horrible! Laurell K. Hamilton has added so many men to this series that it has become laughable. The "ARDUER" is an excuse for Anita to end up in bed with so many different men I can't even keep track of all their names. The once difficult yet fun triangle of Jean-Claude/Anita/Richard has been kicked out the window and unlike most fans I see it as gone forever. Anita even mentions at one point the bond could become her/JC/Asher/Micah. Micah in this novel is her steady boyfriend when in a previous novel they'd had one of the most violent sexual encounters that it bordered on rape for my taste. Now suddenly he is just another yes man in her arsenal.Asher speaks his mind once saying that Anita does things sexually with men and then once the passion or ardeur fades she tosses them aside wanting distance. I found this added item a horrible addition to this series. I don't understand why in order for Anita to be with Jean-Claude Laurell K. Hamilton had to take away so many of the aspects that made Anita great by making her nothing more than a whiney sex starved creature of the series.Richard and Jean-Claude together had enough to carry this series, but now we have a cast of characters I personally can't keep up with half the time. Richard seems to have become the bad guy because he refused to deal with Anita having a harem of men who do her bidding with no questions asked.An interlude between Anita/JC/Asher has Anita once again whining over the fact that JC asks her to leave after she once again cries that Asher has used Vampire wilds on her. But eventually they all give in to her.This version in the series is shallow and doesn't hold up to the series.